“Bianca!”
The Countess Dyke shouted fiercely. Bianca, who had been subtly linking arms with her, stepped back in surprise.
“Why are you suddenly yelling?”
“Why are you being so selfish and self-centered today? Did I raise you like that?”
“Why are you talking like this…”
“I have nothing more to say, so go to your room and get some sleep. Don’t get on my nerves any further.”
Bianca pouted her lips in dissatisfaction, but instead of saying more, she went up the stairs.
Letting out a deep sigh, the Countess Dyke returned to her room and took a moment to compose herself.
She muttered to herself several times as if hypnotizing herself that it would be alright, but her heart continued to race with no signs of calming down.
About 30 minutes later, the head maid carefully entered the room.
“My lady.”
“What is it?”
“Lord Belliard said he is fine now and requests to meet with you. I asked if it would be alright to meet tomorrow morning since it is late at night, but he strongly insisted on meeting now…”
“Where is Lord Belliard?”
“I have guided him to the reception room for now.”
“I see. Prepare some tea and make sure not even an ant goes near the reception room. I will pour the tea myself, so you may return to your room after bringing it out. Understood?”
The head maid seemed puzzled but obediently bowed her head.
“Understood.”
The Countess Dyke watched the head maid leave, took another deep breath, and left the room.
[This is the timeline separator]
The Countess Dyke observed Johannes Belliard, who was silently drinking tea across from her. His appearance was still as elegant as people often called him an angel.
However, the countess knew very well how dark his true nature was.
It was Johannes who had first approached her with an unbelievable proposal.
A few months ago, he said those words with an impeccably kind face.
The countess, who had been secretly looking forward to meeting Johannes, was greatly flustered by the unexpected topic.
I don’t know how he found out, but it was true that the relationship between Count and Countess Dyke had not been good for the past half a year.
Count Dyke constantly reprimanded his wife for her extravagance, and the countess protested to the count, saying, “I’m extravagant because you don’t take care of the family.”
The conflict grew uncontrollably when the count learned that the countess had a huge debt.
The count told the countess to resolve her debt on her own. He added that he had no obligation to repay it since she incurred it without his knowledge.
In fact, Count Dyke had taken a strong stance in order to correct his wife’s extravagance. If the countess had shown remorse and tried to change, he intended to pay off the debt in the name of the family.
However, rather than reflecting, the countess’s attitude of continuing her extravagance truly disgusted him.
The countess lamented the reality that she could not touch the family’s assets as she pleased. She thought that if her son, Aaron Dyke, became the count, she would not have to live in poverty.
However, that was only an internal matter of the family, more specifically, a marital issue. The Countess Dyke had enough reason not to mention it to a third party for the sake of her honor.
Johannes smiled kindly at the flustered countess.
The countess was conflicted. She had no meaningful acquaintance with Johannes Belliard. They had only exchanged greetings a few times at the capital’s parties. They had never spoken privately or danced together.
The same was true for her daughter, Bianca.
There was even less connection with the Belliard ducal family.
So why did Johannes suddenly appear and make this proposal?
Even if he tried to establish ties with the Dyke family, there was realistically no benefit for the Belliard family.
‘Could it be…?’
There was one possibility that came to mind. What would a man of marriageable age be interested in? Moreover, he currently had no known fiancée or lover.
Then could it be that Johannes was interested in the countess’s daughter, Bianca?
It was quite possible. Bianca was objectively a beauty who captivated the gazes of many men.
‘If that’s the case, we would be catching a huge fish.’
Johannes was the heir to the Belliard ducal family and already had a very good image as a gentle gentleman to the public. Even at this very moment, proposals must be pouring into the ducal family.
The countess asked in a slightly excited voice.
She asked Johannes again, who was only giving a meaningful smile.
When Johannes readily affirmed, the countess almost cried out in delight. However, her mood plummeted with his next answer.
Johannes laughed at the countess, whose disappointment was evident.
The countess coolly assessed the loophole she had failed to notice earlier due to her rapture.
Johannes smiled and leisurely crossed his legs.
It felt ominous. She had no idea what Johannes would demand, but it seemed like something she would have a hard time handling.
But it was also frightening to just turn back now. The creditor had sent a warning not long ago. They even threatened her beloved children.
Since her life was being threatened by the creditor, wouldn’t it be better to join hands with Johannes?
Johannes laughed out loud again, as if he found it amusing, looking at the countess who had a determined face.
That laughter was as refreshing as a cool mountain stream in the summer, completely out of place in this serious situation.
Johannes did not answer that question and only smiled. The countess felt a chill run down her spine in that moment.
The countess was conflicted.
It was a loveless marriage from the beginning. Count Dyke needed a wife to take care of his young daughter, Riena, who had lost her mother, and the countess, who had nowhere to go after her husband’s death, needed a place to stay with her daughter.
The count, who had deeply loved his late wife, did not give affection to his new wife. He treated her respectfully as a husband, but there was no love at all.
It was the same for the countess. At one point, she felt love for her husband who treated her kindly unlike her previous husband, but as he remained cold as a stone wall, even her lingering feelings disappeared.
Instead, what took root in her heart was only hatred towards him.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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